Hello blog followers and welcome to my article with a difference, where I tackle insomnia with the assistance of a Qwik Kiwi athlete by the name of Janne Falkner.
After completing my events for the 2018/19 season of the IronMaori / Port of Tauranga Legend Series at the same time as the Erin Baker Award, which made up a total of seven events of differing distances, it was time to pause before focusing on events for next season, in consultation with Coach Ray and my wife. Obviously these events have to be planned well in advance so Coach Ray can put his thinking cap on regarding how to plan the training.
However, as my blogs unfolded for the training and events of the 2018/19 season, a common theme was coming through. The common theme related to the effects that insomnia was having not only on my training, but also on my events, let alone life in general (yes, I am writing this blog in the dark hours after just a few hours sleep). My insomnia comes and goes so it is hard to establish a cause or pattern. One would think that with all my training and events that I would get a good nights sleep. I recall after completing a double marathon on Day 3 of Ultraman Australia in 2017, I sent a blog to Coach Ray and he replied with “you’re up early”. Even a double marathon couldn’t knock me out.
One of Coach Ray’s athletes Janne Falkner (I think she may be a former client of Qwik Kiwi, but once a Qwik Kiwi athlete, always a Qwik Kiwi athlete), had picked up that I am an insomniac, and made a suggestion that I should read a book from front to back called “Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams” by author Matthew Walker. I instantly popped into a couple of reputable book shops thinking I would probably want to read this more than once and again in the future so I skipped the library option. The book shops didn’t have it, so I went on-line and ordered it through ‘Book Depository’. As the blog readers will be aware I am now overseas and the book literally arrived as I was clearing the letterbox for the last time before departure. Perfect timing ! I have it with me and have started to read it. Many thanks Janne for recommending this book. It looks very interesting. I will let you know how it goes with assisting with my insomnia. Once again, this highlights how Qwik Kiwi athletes, both past and present support each other. I was stoked to read the email that Janne sent me through Coach Ray.
Apart from this I don’t have anything to report on the training front as I have just arrived overseas and have been taking things easy until Coach Ray and myself can work out training options once I have hit him up with events I wish to do. However I am starting to get twitchy with having a couple of weeks off training to spend time with my family after my last event for the 2018/19 season and before I departed New Zealand.
Stay tuned team, regards John Humphries (aka UltraHumps).
Humps will be writing weekly as he continues his journey raising funds for the Fallen Hero’s Trust.
Read Humps’ article from last week here:
And all his previous articles are stored here:
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